Music

July 6, 2019 by admin

Adults age sixty-five and above are currently the fastest-growing segment of the US population. In 2016, there were 47.8 million individuals age sixty-five and over in the United States (US Census Bureau 2017), and this number is expected to more than double by 2060. By 2040, nearly half of older adults are expected to come from diverse racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds (Vincent and Velkoff 2010; Johnson, Rodriquez-Salazar, et al. 2018). San Francisco’s population of older adults is higher than the national norm.

March 9, 2017 by admin

The League of American Orchestras’ upcoming national conference in Detroit falls just days before the fiftieth anniversary of the 1967 Detroit uprising, the largest urban disruption in America since the Civil War. According to Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) president Anne Parsons, the 1967 riot was the context for the orchestra’s fellowship program for African American musicians.

If It Ain’t Broke, Break It

September 25, 2014 by admin

The League of American Orchestras invited Alan Brown to deliver this keynote at our 2014 conference in Seattle. We were delighted that he turned his attention to the lessons learned from organizations that stay creatively healthy, arguably our most essential role.

Tejano: Local Music, Global Identity

September 25, 2014 by admin

I Hate Classical Music

June 30, 2014 by admin

For several years my brother, Alex Laing, principal clarinetist for the Phoenix Symphony, and I, senior program officer at the Heinz Endowments, have been having often intense conversations, where my brother probed the thinking behind Heinz Endowments’ grantmaking that placed an emphasis on African and African diasporic culture, distressed neighborhoods, and teaching artists. Heinz Endowments, having taken the advice of Anasa Troutman of the consulting firm Lion and Butterfly, has begun to call this work transformative arts education.

Inclusion in American Orchestras

March 3, 2014 by admin

A version of this address was delivered by Dr. Dworkin at Carnegie Hall on October 8, 2013.

On this seventeenth anniversary of the Sphinx Organization’s work in the field, I felt compelled to speak to our field and nation as a whole regarding diversity, inclusion, and the state of American orchestras.

June 11, 2013 by admin

As a writer who often ponders music and its many audiences, I spend a lot of time thinking about how some artists thrive, while others don’t, in places far from their first home. As listeners, members of an audience, we hear something that feels real, powerful, to us, and we feel connected to the experience of someone who may seem not much like us. From this experience we have a single urgent response: how can we share this with the world? You’ve got to hear this…

Money from Music

February 10, 2013 by admin

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Money from Music (1.2 Mb)

Getting SMART

February 4, 2013 by admin

About four years ago I attended an extraordinary meeting in Philadelphia. Susan Nelson, principal of Technical Development Corporation (TDC), was presenting the draft of Getting Beyond Breakeven to the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and many other stakeholders associated with the work.

November 6, 2012 by admin

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Developing Artist-Driven Spaces in Marginalized Communities (3.9 Mb)